Shell Lifts FTSE 100 as Haleon Suffers Record Fall
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.26% at 10,722.07, led by energy stocks after Shell reported its highest quarterly profit since 2022 and raised its share buyback. Shell rose 2.1%, even though oil prices fell. Haleon dropped about 15%, its biggest one-day fall since it listed four years ago, after cutting its organic revenue growth forecast.
Energy stocks gained about 1.6% as Shell’s refining margins outweighed a weaker crude price, which fell after news of Vance’s outreach to Tehran. The paradox is plain: the war that is squeezing household budgets is lifting the profits of London’s largest oil company. Sterling firmed against the dollar on Thursday, and ten-year US Treasury yields eased back below 5%. Next week brings the US midterms, and soon after the Bank of England’s next rate decision is due, so markets face two tests in quick succession.